The toddler had been found unconscious at the bottom of a pool at a hotel complex after her uncle, who had been responsible for supervising her, allegedly left her alone
A three-year-old British girl who fell into a hotel swimming pool after being allegedly being left unattended while on holiday in Greece has died after 12 days in hospital.
The tragedy happened in Lardos, a seaside resort village on the island of Rhodes on October 14. The child, named only as Matilda, had been on holiday with her family. She died in a hospital in England on Sunday, after several days of treatment in critical condition in hospitals in Rhodes and Crete before being airlifted to her home country.
The toddler had been found unconscious at the bottom of a pool at a hotel complex after her 44-year-old uncle – who had been responsible for supervising her – allegedly left her alone for around 10 minutes.
A British doctor who was at the scene entered the water to rescue the child and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Matilda was taken to the General Hospital of Rhodes, where she was intubated, before being transferred to Crete and later to Britain, but she did not survive.
Her uncle and a 54-year-old manager of a travel agency responsible for the hotel’s guests have since been arrested by police. They are now facing charges over the child’s death, along with the 57-year-old hotel owner and the hotel’s director.
An on-site investigation found that safety measures at the hotel were minimal, with no lifeguard on duty, no rescue equipment at the specific pool and no designated supervisor present, according to reports.
The tragic child’s uncle’s lawyer, Antonis Zervos, has argued that his client “did not see and was not near the child”. The hotel manager’s lawyer has meanwhile claimed the pool is not big enough to legally require a lifeguard be present.
Doctors had told the family in the early days of hospitalisation that the brain injury she had suffered was irreversible. Michalis Sokorelos, the hospital’s director, described her condition as “brain dead”. He said: “The child obviously stayed in the water for a long time. She is not reacting at all.”